Improved furnace for roasting- ores



. tures, or'openings, s betwen Lthem,

SMITH W. BULLooK, or ELIZABETH, NEW .IERs anlassIeNon To HAMILTON E. YToWLE, or NEW YORK CITY. Letters Patent No. 87,327, dated Ma/rclt 2, 1869; antedated .February 12, `1869.

IMPROVED FU'RNACE FOR ROASTING- CRBS.

`The.Schedule:resfex'reci to in these Lettera Patent and making part of the sama.

To all whom it ma/y concern.-

Be it known that I, SMITH W. BULLocK, oi' Eliza beth, county of Union, State of New Jersey, haveinvented a new and improved Mode of Constructing Furnaces for Roasting Mineral Orcs; andI do hereby declare that the`followiug is a fulland exact description thereof, 4reference being had to the accompaf nying drawings, and to the. letters of reference marked thereon.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and u'se\ proceed to describe its construction andA operation.

'Description of Drawings.

` Figure l is a vertical section, cut through the centre ofthe furnace longitudinally.

Figure2 is a horizontal section, cut through the furnace, just above the grate, from a. to b. l In each section, like letters represent like parts.v

A A, end-walls of the furnace.

Al and A2, cross-walls.-

Aa and A, side-walls.

B is a perforated wall, of fire-brick, between'the orechamber and the smoke-due.

C O (l C are partition-wall'sin'the gas-chamber.

D D, ore-chamber.

E, funnel, or mouth of ore-chamber.

F, drying-door.

G, ash-pit underneath the grate.

E, water-tank.

I I I I, gas-dues in gas-chamber.

K, grateibars.. L L, perforated wall between .is-chamber.

M M M, furnace-doors.

N, damper in partition-wall C',

O O, gas-pipe to admit gas, air, or steam to ore-4 chamber.

P, chimney.

Q, fire-box.

the ore-chamber and Construction.

I begin the erection of my furnace foundationwalls,.as seen in iig.` 2. A

I now erect walls of brick or stone upon this foundation, as seen in fig. I.

rIhe two side-Walls and the two end-walls, VI extend up to the top ofthe furnace, as seen in the drawings, I g. l. i

The wall A1, I build up .solid and perpendicular, to' about one foot above thegrate-bars, as seen at a, dgl.

At that point I commence a wall, B, of ire-bric k, or other material, so formed as to leave, when laid, aperof ,oneourth of an by laying down ,i inch in thickness, to admit of the introduction` of gas, f steam, or air, into the ore-chamber at all .pointsgfifm 3 top to bottom. `v Y', 'f

Aabove the grate-bars, and o 4The edges of the brick are beve11ed,and laid so as to set the upper face of the Wall at an angle with the horizon of about fifty degrees, more or less.

The wall A2, I build up perpendicular, about two ,feet above the grate-bars K, and from that point I batter it back to an angle nearly parallel with the wall B.

" These two walls, in conjunction with the two sidewalls, forml the smoke-line J J, 'which leads from` the grate-bars K to the chimney P.

I erect partition-wall C 0 O 0, which are sustained by the side-walls A3 and A.

I construct also plates made of lire-clay, and with theln form the upper wall ofthe ore-chamber. These plates are perforated, so -as to admit the escape of -the gas 'from the ore-chamber D into the gas-chamber I I I;

I build three iron door-frames, M M M, with doors attached, into the frontI side-Wall, one opening intoithe ash-pit G, under -the grate, one into the Ylire-box Q, 'ne into the smoke flue J J.

, At a convenient distance labovethe fire-box, I place a damper, N, in the top of the partition-wall G', and make an opening in the end-wall, from the gas-chamber I, so as to admit the escape of the gas-from the" gas-chamber to-such other place as maybe desired for further use. v

When the walls are all up, as described, and shown iu g. l, it'will be seen t at I have a large receptacle for asl and dust.

cover the Whole surface with a fiat stone, F, or other material. This forms a floor, to be used for drying ores preparatory to putting them into the orechamb'er, which is heated by the gas escaping from the ores undergoing decompositionin the\ oreechamoer.

I make and put a set of grate-bars in the space be- I tween the walls Al and A, about two feet from the ground, and also insert one or more gas-pipes, O O, into the openings between the tire-brick ofthe wall B, with the outer end of the pipe projecting beyond the end-Wall.

Between the walls A and A', I construct a watery tight tank, VH, as shown' in Iig. l.

Modus Ope'r'am.

Preparatory to using my furnace, in the treatment of sulphuretted ores, I place the fine-ground material to be roasted upon the drying-plate F. I then kindle a Jfire upon the grate K, and keep up this fire until the' wall B becomes quite hot, and .until'theore upon the'plate F is thoroughly dried. I then ill the yorechamber D with the dried ore from the plate F, and then 'open the damper N,.and force air, steam, or gas of ysome kind, according to the character of the ore under treatment, through the pipes .Ov 0by means of a common fan, or otherwise. I continue the fire upon the grate until the ore in the lower part of the cham ber I) becomes ignited. The damper N is now closed,

and the fire upon the grate may now be dispeusedwith.

As a general rule, the sulphur in the ore, with a supply of oxygen from the air, through the pipes O O, will keep up the combustion until the ores are thoroughly decomposed, and passed down to the tank H; and as the ores above, in the upper part of the furnace, are by this process being gradually roasted, they will, in their turn, as they descend near the lower part of the chamber, become completely decomposed. Now, by continual feeding in the ground ore at the top, and a continual drawing of the roasted ore from the tank at the bottom, Ikeep a continuous stream of ore passingv through the furnace completely decomposed. p

The objects sought to b'e obtained in placing lthe wall B upon an angle, as described, are these: The angle of the wall B should be just enough to allow the ground ore to slide down gradually, as the bottom of the column is drawn from the water-tank; at the same time nearly Iall the weight of the ore should rest on the lower wall B. This prevents the ore from packing tight at the bottom of the chamber, Which- Would prevent, in a measure, the'passage of the air and' gases through the ore; and it also leaves the upper side of the column of ore'with comparatively little pressure, but loose and open, so as to allow of the free escape ofthe gases as they are formed by the decomposition of the ore. The application of heat'and oxygen at the same'point, on same side of the ore-bed, or column of fine-ground sulphuretted ore, produces almost instantaneous decomposition. ,This bed being -thin and loose, allows free escape of the gases, and as the Wall or the bed of the furnace is not sufficiently hot at any time to melt or slag the ores, and the sulphur in the i ore being relied upon to support combustion, it is erident, as soon as combustion ceases, that is, as soon as decomposition takes place, the sulphur escapes with the oxygen as sulphurous-acid gas, there will be nothing left in that part of the ore to make heat enough to slag it, and it is now allowed to slide on graduallydown to the water-tank.

Where the ores do not contain suicient sulphur to keep up the heat by a supply of cold air, I keep up a gentle re upon the grate, sufficient to heat the air as it passes through the pipes O O, and thus keep a continuous stream or thin column of ore passing through the chambers, slower or faster, atthe discretion of the operator. The ready supply of air (or oxygen) to every atom contained in a thin column of ore, from top`to bottom, with free ventilation at the opposite side of the furnace for the escape of the gases, avoids all danger of slagging the ore, and at the same time enables me to work rapidly; and by the use of a large gas-chanber, arranged as described, with partition-walls to arrest the current of the gas and fine sand or dust that may escape from the ore-chamber, nothing but the gases passes the chamber, the dust being all precipitated in the tank H, at the bottom of the chamber, particularly when the damper N is closed, so as to force all the gas passing out of the chamber to pass under the Wall C', within a few inches of the'vvater in the tank H.

O'Za/ims. WVhat I claim as my invention,I and desire to secure 1. The application of two or more perforated Walls in a'roasting-fumace, as and for the purposes set forth.

forth.

S. W. BULLOCK. Witnesses:

THEO. J. ALLEN, -W. D. WADDINGTON; 

